And You Thought It Was Bad....
So, I'm a California brat...grew up here. Went to school with the whole California 'tude. You know, meritocracy...everyone is equal...hell, I even spent years overseas..as a minority...to come back here to learn about 'civil rights' (which actually I, at 6th grade, could've taught the East Coast prima donna airheads who headed out here to educate us). I spent years overseas, not knowing the language, being discriminated against because of religion.
But that's beside point.
I can't get a job now.
Why?
Because I don't speak the language. Spanish, that is. I mean I do speak it...just not completely fluently. Estudiar muchos anos, pero no comprende mucho. So, that is one demerit against me in the job search ( a huge one, actually).
And, since I'm looking for a job in education....big disadvantage not having a penis and all. I guess I could pretend to be a lesbian. But I'm not big on pretending...so....again, two strikes.
Now, whenever you apply for a teaching position in our state (online), you fill out this application...which requests your racial identity. I always ignore that part. Even thought the application doesn't state that it's required to state what your ethnicity is...it's implied (although if you don't answer=which I don't=you can still submit your application).
So, tricky me, I thought I'd finessed it by submitting applications and ignoring the rude "what race are you? questions" and I have been actually getting a few interviews.
Only here''s the rub....once engaged in the interview...it's clear that being white, female and speaking grammatically correct English is quite enough reasons for me NOT to get the job.
Which is a shame...because my 99.9% hispanic students for the last two years (7th and 8th grade) told me that I was their first teacher that taught them how to speak properly.
But that's an aside...'cuz clearly in the state of Cali-fornication that doesn't matter (in fact actually teaching my largely migrant hispanic students life skills is a huge career liability).....in any event...at my last interview it was in front of a panel of 3 people....with a series of 8 questions...I had to read the handout in front of me but wasn't allowed to take the handout with me when I left (for obvious reasons)...
And one of the questions was this...
"How does your ethnic and racial identity contribute to this position?"
Racism, anyone? Isn't our educational system terrific?
But that's beside point.
I can't get a job now.
Why?
Because I don't speak the language. Spanish, that is. I mean I do speak it...just not completely fluently. Estudiar muchos anos, pero no comprende mucho. So, that is one demerit against me in the job search ( a huge one, actually).
And, since I'm looking for a job in education....big disadvantage not having a penis and all. I guess I could pretend to be a lesbian. But I'm not big on pretending...so....again, two strikes.
Now, whenever you apply for a teaching position in our state (online), you fill out this application...which requests your racial identity. I always ignore that part. Even thought the application doesn't state that it's required to state what your ethnicity is...it's implied (although if you don't answer=which I don't=you can still submit your application).
So, tricky me, I thought I'd finessed it by submitting applications and ignoring the rude "what race are you? questions" and I have been actually getting a few interviews.
Only here''s the rub....once engaged in the interview...it's clear that being white, female and speaking grammatically correct English is quite enough reasons for me NOT to get the job.
Which is a shame...because my 99.9% hispanic students for the last two years (7th and 8th grade) told me that I was their first teacher that taught them how to speak properly.
But that's an aside...'cuz clearly in the state of Cali-fornication that doesn't matter (in fact actually teaching my largely migrant hispanic students life skills is a huge career liability).....in any event...at my last interview it was in front of a panel of 3 people....with a series of 8 questions...I had to read the handout in front of me but wasn't allowed to take the handout with me when I left (for obvious reasons)...
And one of the questions was this...
"How does your ethnic and racial identity contribute to this position?"
Racism, anyone? Isn't our educational system terrific?
Labels: California, discrimination, education, hiring, hispanic, jobs, meritocracy, racism
posted by Knittin 'n Stitchin at
10:08 PM
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